Thomas is now a big brother

Nov 18th, 2009 7:03am. 6 lb. and 2.8 oz.

Finally gave her a name, almost 6 days after she was born. Natalie Eva Kuo.

Mom and baby doing great!

Will have more updates later...from a tired William..

Some pics from our last get-a-way before Baby #2

I'll comment later (or Catherine will).

As you can see, I'm trying to get Thomas to enjoy the ocean & waves... :)

Updates...

Thanks for all the well wishes regarding our second baby coming along! We are about 11 weeks away from the due date, and trying our best to enjoy every day with thomas. he is very outgoing, talkative, and active. always negotiating, and always pointing out the obvious to us. but we did realize that he is only very outgoing self when he feels comfortable. In front of strangers, he gets a little performance anxiety and clams up. He doesn't run away, but he refuses to move.
In July, he did a one week drama camp in the mornings, and his teachers all loved him, said he was a natural. BUT on the final day, during the "performance" and example times, he just stood there, and then turned around and gave everyone his butt, while peering at us stubbornly refusing to act out the directions he had learned during the week :)


He also went to his first live concert! The Wiggles at HP Pavillion! We loved watching his reaction and he loved going. He got to meet Murray and Jeff as they walked around the auditorium. They were both so great about making eye contact with the kids as they walked up and down shaking little hands. Thomas was THRILLED!

oh and yes, i gave in and wasted almost $20 on that ridiculous, flashing wiggles wand he is clutching so happily in above pic. basically a fancy flashlight. and after the first 1-2 weeks, it now lies ignored in a bin next to his bed. *sigh* :)

------------------NEW BABY SISTER----------------------

So regarding the second baby, it is going to be girl. We're very happy, but very apprehensive about girl poopy diaper changes. there is a lot more places you have to clean for a girl and we're NOT looking forward to that. ha ha... out of everything that comes with a girl, we're most worried of her anatomy :)
We've gotten tons of girl clothes from our friends with girls that are older so along with all the stuff we kept from Thomas, we have everything we really need. William even finally installed garage storage this past weekend, so we can start cleaning all of the boxes and tubs out of the new baby room, and actually get it to look like a kids room.

Also thank you too everyone who knew I had problems with my vision. I really appreciate all your prayers! Thanks to God it is getting better now! Such a relief because for about a month, in July and August, I had very limited vision in my left eye. Thankfully, it is now to the point where I feel like I almost have my normal vision back. The doctor at Stanford still wants me to go back for a checkup in October, which I am dreading because it takes up half a day to go out there, but better safe than sorry.

Applogies for the lack of posts lately, but with William busy at work (RHI has been having lots of IT and storage related problems lately) and me falling asleep at 9 or 10pm, we just haven't had time to post. will it get any better once baby's born? just give us a month or two to get back on track :)

Thomas's 2nd visit to SF Chinatown

Thomas, Catherine and I went into the city to attend Robin & Stan's 2nd son's red egg & ginger party... It was a great time of seeing friends from UCLA days that we haven't seen in quite some time.

It also made me realize we are approaching 40 fast! How sobering...yet the kids distract us quickly from feeling sorry for ourselves hahaha.

Anyhow, after lunch, we headed up the street towards a bakery to pick up some egg custard cupcakes (as we did 1.5 years ago during their 1st son's reg egg/ginger party.)

We came upon this alley way and Thomas took to the pigeons and decided to give them a chase...

Thomas & the "bonking" game

Thomas has recently (last 4 weeks) been hooked on a game show from Japan. (Look up "human tetris" on YouTube.)

He gets a kick out of watching it (we let him watch it about 10-15min per day online, and almost always the same you tube clip)....

And he's been improvising the game at home, asking me to become the "wall" coming at him and he'd put himself in poses to make it through the imaginary wall...

ipod favorites

happy to show off his half eaten cupcake:

helping to make some morning omlets...
and helping to eat the omlet fillings

william got a free ipod touch from a big vendor presentation back in March and he gave it to me for my birthday. I am so stuck on this thing now, and understand why people love their Apple products... i love that i can get my email on it, and news headlines, weather and all my calendar events, all in one place. pretty much everything except for a phone and camera. and i have a cellphone, so i am pretty happy with it.
i managed to keep it hidden from thomas for 2 weeks. but he discovered me using it one day and his little voice, as he bounced up and down trying to peer over the kitchen counter, "hey mommy, what's that? can i see it?"
so i gave in and let him see it. at the time, i had nothing fun on it. the only thing that was remotely entertaining was this little mini-piano and drum pad i had downloaded free. but even those were enough to keep him coming back to me to ask for it, whenever he saw me using it. *sigh*

so i started combing through itunes aps for good free educational games for thomas and found some really good ones. a couple friends have asked me about games thomas plays on it, and ha ha.... yeah, that's what i did for several nights, rather than check email, or catch up with all my mom's group emails... waste time on itunes!

here are the best ones we have found so far. if you know of any others, please let me know.
some are free. all the others are under $2 and really worth the cost. enjoy :)

1. MiniPiano, by JYProduct (free)
2. KanonDrum, by SHIMIZU kenichi (free)
3. KidArt, by GP Apps ($0.99) - simple, easy to use drawing program, saves art in photos
4. Shape Builder, by Darren Murtha Design (free lite version or .99 full version) - simple drag and drop puzzles
5. Cute Math, by BokanTech ($1.99)- the BEST numbers and math game I have seen so far for kids, has 7 different games that include simple games to teach basic counting, as well as harder games that teach addition and subtraction
6. Word Magic, by anusen.com (.99) - great spelling game with cute graphics, gives option to guess missing first letter of the word, or a letter in the middle of the word.
7. Baby Flash Cards, by Dream Cortex (free) - just like baby's first flash cards with 200+ high frequency words
8. Letters A to Z by Refresh Media/True Learning (.99) - cool way to learn ABC's, includes cute animated graphics and option for phonics
9. ABC paint, by HappR (free lite or .99 full) - this is just another set of ABC flashcards, but thomas likes these b/c for each "card" you can color in the graphic for that letter. many of the characters have many different parts you can color in with the 8 different colors, so you can get pretty creative
10. 2 memory games we like:
10a. ABC Match by Lima Sky (.99) - memory game using ABC/abc's.
10b. AniMatch, by Lima Sky (.99) - memory game using cute animals that make sounds as you flip them over. both have 20 card grid, shows cards just long enough, then flips them back over, so you can pick the next two cards.

11. abc PocketPhonics, by Apps in My Pocket (free lite and .99 full) - this one combines phonics using vocal prompts, with a demo of how to write the letter, plus practice writing/tracing. Also has basic letter combinations that change the way the letters sound when used together, i.e. ch, sh, st, qu, etc. we like that feature. And the little included game is not bad, it is a spelling/fill in the missing letter game.

these last three are not educational, but thomas loves them and we often play them together. amazingly, they are all FREE!
1. jellycar, by walaber - ridiculously cute game, trying to get your little squishy car out of all these different levels. thomas likes making the car go, spinning it out of control, and seeing it change from big to small with the tap of a finger
2. twistism, by paul bentley - kind of like solitarie scrabble, figure out as many words from those as possible from 6 given letters
3. trace, by kevin calderone - amazing addictive game! your little man has to reach the star on each level. you have to draw him a way to walk or jump to reach the star. each level has obstacles that you either have to avoid or can draw around. has 100+ levels, and is so great for young ones and adults, william is even hooked. a lot of the levels require strategic thinking to determine how to reach the star. it is a great thinking game. this is thomas' current most favorite game. give it a try and you'll be hooked :)

The little boy

Catherine and I are constantly amazed and get re-amazed at how we have another human being living with us at our house! (We were married 10 years with only cats as the other living creatures in the house before deciding to have kids.)

We love just watching him sometimes; and yesterday he was over at grandparents and he decided he wanted to pick these red fruits off the vine (they're not tomatoes) for everyone...

I just took several pictures spur of the moment to capture the "little boy" in his Thomas-the-Train briefs and green sandals against the back retaining wall....so little. So time-less as each day he grows older and older....if only I can hit pause...





As you can see he chases down anyone in the yard and offers up his pickings....

Congratulations to Jenny & Jason!

William's sister Jenny got married this weekend in beautiful Foresthill, CA. It is a tiny little township near Auburn, CA. Thomas got to be the ring bearer and we were quite surprised by the fact that he was put off by all the strange people staring at him. here i am during the rehearsal, trying to placate him and letting him know he had a very important job to do. The panda bear had a little pocket with the rings inside.


here are some photos from the day of the wedding. as you can see, thomas has decided that getting his tongue into as many pictures as possible is the new mission of the day. maybe it is from watching KISS perform on the American Idol finale?? William retaliates by tickling :) and my motto has been if you can't win, might as well join him :)



Here he is enjoying his post ceremony rewards: a lollipop and getting his hands on my ipod.


And a series with William... more sticking out of the tongue and lots of tickling :)


His hamburger mouth...


The backdrop for the ceremony was this fabulous vista of the California mountains and despite our best efforts to get a nice family shot, thomas was just such a goof ball. Either more hamburger mouth, or funny poses, or testing out his funny faces. instead of getting a frame-able shot, we got bad exposure from bright sun and more silly Thomas!

just to remember...

sometimes you just can't believe that their little brains click so fast. a couple days ago, thomas was watching a DVD and using the fast rewind button to watch one of his favorite scenes again and again. it was right before lunch and William was going to be home any minute.

Mommy: thomas, you know that is very hard on the DVD player when you do that. plus Daddy will be home soon and he gets really annoyed when you do that.
Thomas: when daddy comes home, I will not do it any more.
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Here's another one from last night. They were having lots of fun playing toddler baseball right before bedtime. (i know, great "quiet down" activity dad!)

Daddy: ok thomas when the big hand gets to the 6, we are going to stop and go to bed.
Thomas: daddy, don't look at the clock!
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We were both getting washed up one morning. Thomas decided for the first time, to try pooping by himself. he runs into our bathroom, onesie all unbuttoned, no underwear on.

Thomas: "mommy, daddy, I have a present for you! come look!"
He quickly darted out, bare butt flashing, back towards his bathroom.

I dashed after him saying: "Oh a present, how nice! did you go to the bathroom yourself?" (as fear of poop smears stabs my heart)

Thomas grandly gestures to the toilet and says:
"I went poo all by myself. you will be so proud of me!"

I couldn't believe how much he wanted us to be proud of him for pooping all by himself. of course i praised him profusely and then helped him wipe his butt.
can you believe that?? :)

Thomas and the Wiggles

It's official that we are headed to the Wiggles concert on July 22nd at HP Pavilion (aka Shark Tank). He's been counting the days backwards...and keeps asking is it July yet. What an opportunity to show him the calendar...

Meanwhile, Catherine scored a set of Wiggles comforter & pillow casing off Craigslist about 2 weekends ago. We made it into a grand trip out to the peninsula to visit our UCLA friends Michael & Grace. They sarcastically commented that the only visits they ever get from us is a side-trip on another craigslist mission. Hahaha

Anyhow, here's Thomas excited about his new acquisition.

Thomas @ Trader Joes

Just like to share a photo of Thomas and mommy's weekly routine....shopping for groceries at Trader Joes.

Here he has stopped for a small cup of soy milk that they serve next to their sample coffee of the day. Note the balloon attached as well as the frozen food packages already in the cart.

Inspired by hearing about the Pleasant Hill Trader Joes having miniature replicas of shopping carts in store for kids; Catherine started packing the play-toy grocery cart during their grocery runs to Trader Joes and it's a huge hit with Thomas! Safeway is too big and Thomas would probably get too tired pushing that thing from end-to-end....

He puts things that Catherine picks out and sometimes things that he wants. It brings smiles to some of the shoppers and the check-out cashiers. Sometimes other kids are intrigued and peer around the aisles to check Thomas and his fancy carts out...

I'm sure after a few more weeks, the novelty for Thomas will wear off...but in the meantime, gave me some photo ops!

Potty Training done at Last!

It's been a while since either Catherine or myself had posted any updates... I'm sure many of the regular audience has moved on elsewhere for entertainment.... :)

Thomas was taking advantage of us by not wanting to use the regular toilet for his nature business. We tried several methods (from books or talking with others). Mainly the "rewards" technique only works so far with certain types of behavior that we want out of Thomas...

So finally one weekend I got a bit fed up when for the 3rd time that day he pee'd into the diaper knowing that I had wanted him to tell me that he's about to go pee so we can go sit on the toilet with his kiddie seat.

Fuming a bit inside I thought...fine, rewards don't work cause he could careless about silly stickers and lollipops; or even the "bribe" of icecream didn't phaze him.

So I set out to take out his most precious toy in the house: his drumset.

Everytime he pees in his diaper without telling us, one piece of the drumset gets moved out to the garage.

Thus began the 'dare'. There's several pieces to the drumset: he likes to count out the 5 main pieces, then the hi-hat (6), the ride cymbal (7), and the drum seat.

I got to the 3rd piece (hi-hat, snare, and the floor tom) and he started to inform loudly through out the house that he needs to go pee. And for every time that he does that a piece comes back in...

So that took care of #1. We decided that was enough for the week and then the next week, we set out to get #2 out of the way and using the same technique....but he was too smart to let me take any pieces out...I didn't have to even take the hi-hat and he was pooping into his little toilet set....

Well, there's not too much drama after that I suppose...I feared it'd take longer but we believe that once the kid is ready and is "playing you" by taking advantage of you....(hahaha those little sneaky todders)...it's time to cut the game short and cut to the chase....no more begging, promising rewards, etc, etc, etc. They're smart little ones....they know better. And it's not like everything we do is a negative re-enforcement....what do you all think?

Have a good evening!

more love from daddy and new toy!

Thomas likes to play hard to get sometimes when we want his hugs and kisses. This was him last week when william was trying to get a goodbye kiss, "no no i don't want to give daddy a goodbye kiss" so william got a big hug & giggles instead :)


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this drum set was william's birthday present to thomas. :) we finally got something up on youtube of thomas playing. we found these on craigslist from a dad in berkeley that had his kids outgrow the set. it is this great little full drum set that is scaled down for little guys. of course, the instant thomas saw it, he was enthralled and we couldn't leave without buying it. and since then, he has practiced almost everyday and gotten more and more intricate in his jam sessions with william. and this is without any lessons or instruction from william. he just sits in there, in the middle of his drum castle and bangs away with a big smile on his face.

More pics from December

Here is another one of thomas and william. we were at Blackhawk shopping center, the one with all the ducks. they had this big christmas display setup. since we were too cheap to pay for photos with santa, we opted to take our own photos in front of the display :)


This picture has my mom in middle, my sister on the right, thomas and his two cousins, joshua and ariana. This is a rare photo because my mom is VERY VERY camera shy, so it was pure luck that William managed to snap this shot before she moved away, not wanting to have her picture taken. Amazing that the kids all sat still as well!


and here is thomas' favorite drink - bubble tea, or sweetened milk tea with tapioca balls inside. this was at Quickly cafe near our house. the photo below is from November, with one of his favorite little friends, Ariel *wink & hugs* :). this was the first time i let thomas have some boba and as you can see, he was very VERY intent on getting those tapioca bubbles up the straw.
fast forward to last week, when i was just driving by the cafe on the way to trader joe's, he says to me, "mommy, i think i would like some bubble tea. now." yeah who can resist that??
oh and both thomas and ariel are koreanese babies - half korean half chinese. i have to say, a great combination :)


---------------getting in the kisses while i can----------------------

toddlers generally don't like to be interrupted when they are in the middle of something. william caught me trying to squish thomas, who was not very successfully fending me off, so he very sweetly (and hammy for the camera) gave in to my hug attack. i figure i have to get it in now, while he is small and defenseless. by the time he is 10-11, he will probably be taller than me and not wanting kisses!

a few pics from Christmas

this is thomas with his $3 guitar find from the goodwill store in dublin. william walked in there with him and thomas quickly honed in on this little beat up guitar (even though he has 2-3 at home already... just like daddy.) and of course, since William has a penchant for collecting, he bought it for thomas.


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and this one was playing in one of his favorite stores in the mall, pottery barn kids. we go in there a few times a month just to play with all the toys in there, and occassionally buy something we don't need. he makes himself right at home there, as you can see.

vanilla ice cream milkshake

yummm.... amazing how fast and cleanly they eat when they want to get it into their bellies. no mess, no "accidental" spilling from playing with food, no keeping food in the mouth until it is partially liquified. :)

helping me with our 1st crockpot recipe

Here's the money shot - thomas' million dollar smile. what a ham!

first, i put all the ingredients for the crockpot BBQ sauce in a bowl and thomas helped me stir it. he was very good about not whipping it around too fast, so all the bbq sauce actually stayed in the bowl!

i stuck the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot and he helped spoon all the sauce over the top. fun! :)


all the sauce is in, and we are ready to push start. unfortunately i did not take a picture of the end product. our friend, Stella, said that evening that we haaad to get a picture of the finished product. she was right and I forgot. But it was a little on the dry side. So we'll try it again next week, maybe tweak the sauce some more, and take a picture then :)

Look - matching outfits! :)

So cute, but it makes him look so much more grown up and i hate that! i wish he would stay small and crushably cute for just a few more years. the occasion was for my Dad's ordination ceremony as a pastor. He is finally done! Congratulations to my dad!




below is my new favorite photo of william and thomas. thomas is performing and william is looking on, so many other emotions in his face, mostly proud of his little boy, but also happiness, amusement, joy, and a little chagrin like "oh my what is this little guy going to do next??"


and one last funny photo. this was a cold morning and william had just asked thomas to play like murray. of course, thomas will always say yes to that one.